Replies

1. 
   Dave45 | Jan 05, 2009 04:30am | #1

   I use 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood for all of my drawer boxes. I get it prefinished in either 5' x 5' sheets (for the bottoms) or in "strips" 12" x 5' or 18" x 5'. The long edges of the strips are pre-milled with a thumbnail profile.

   With a bit of planning, I can make drawer boxes with the pre-milled and finished edges showing and the cut edges neatly hidden away. The really cool part is that I no longer have to put a finish on the boxes which saves beaucoup time during the stain/finish stages.

   If I were making the small drawers you describe, I might go to 1/4" ply for the bottoms, but I would give them a couple of coats of finish before I assembled the boxes.

2. 
   hammer1 | Jan 05, 2009 04:38am | #2

   You can add glue blocks to the drawer sides to help support the bottom in a shallow dado.

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

   
1. 
   MikeHennessy | Jan 05, 2009 03:13pm | #7

   Cool clamps.

   Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA

3. 
   oldusty | Jan 05, 2009 04:47am | #3

        Bob ,

               Those are smallish drawers , you don't say exactly how the drawers slide , each side or center runner or cased in compartment for each drawer but the dimensions may be related .

        what joinery will you use ? Butt jointed and glued rabbeted or dovetails ?

             How you gonna build the drawers ?

           3/4" face sounds good , sides on jewelry box drawers and trays the sides  may be 3/8" or even less . 1/2" - 5/8" is common with larger drawers for the sides .

            dusty

1. 
   bob_barnett | Jan 05, 2009 06:28am | #5

    Those are smallish drawers , you don't say exactly how the drawers slide , each side or center runner or cased in compartment for each drawer but the dimensions may be related .

        what joinery will you use ? Butt jointed and glued rabbeted or dovetails ?

             How you gonna build the drawers ?

           3/4" face sounds good , sides on jewelry box drawers and trays the sides  may be 3/8" or even less . 1/2" - 5/8" is common with larger drawers for the sides

   The drawers will be fitted to the cabinet.

   I plan on using blind dovetails for the front and thru dovetails for the back.

   The smaller drawers will be used like Jewelry box drawers.  The larger drawers will probably have socks and other small articles of clothes. 

   I take it you think I should go to 1/2" sides on the larger drawer?

   Bob

1. 
   sandlcustom | Jan 05, 2009 07:19am | #6

   Bob,

   You might want to look at apple ply.  Half inch is 9 ply and 1/4" is 5 ply that crates a decorative edge that looks nice.  I use it on cabinet drawers.  It can be dovetailed and routed like hardwood.  I like it over Baltic Birch because it won't have the "foot ball" patches in it.  Baltic Birch is a good product but you may have to cut around a patch or two.

   Good luck with your drawers.

   sandlcustom 

4. 
   Thorvald | Jan 05, 2009 06:23am | #4

   Bob,

   Sounds like a sewing cabinet or something similar, in which case you don't need to worry much about the drawer bottoms breaking out.  However, it all depends on what's going to be put in them.  In a drawer that small, it's hard to imagine something heavy enough to cause a problem given the dimensions you're considering.

   As far as material is considered, POPLAR would work.  I like elm for drawer carcasses, but you can use whatever is close to hand and inexpensive.  Something to consider is the type of drawer and fit you're looking for.  If you're shooting for a piston fit without slides, you'll want something that's pretty stable, i.e., won't be expanding and contracting too much from summer to winter.  I'm afraid I don't have my references close at hand, but if you do a bit of research, you should be able to find tables that give you the relative expansion/contraction factors for various species.

   With drawers as small as you're making, I would go with 1/2" fronts.  3/4" just seems really clunky on a small drawer, especially when you're using much thinner material for the carcasses. 

   Verne

5. 
   joinerswork | Jan 05, 2009 03:50pm | #8

   bob,

   3/4" thick stock for your fronts and 3/8" thick for the sides and backs ought to be fine.  If you groove 3/16" deep for the bottoms, good enough.  If you use plywood for the bottoms, go ahead and glue block them in place, it will stiffen things up considerably, making for sturdier construction.

   Ray

6. 
   terrylee86 | Jan 05, 2009 05:07pm | #9

   Bob,
   Your dimensions will be fine for that size drawer. I understand your concern for cutting a dado half the thickness of the drawer side, but if you use glue blocks you will be fine. You could even glue the plywood in the dado itself to add more strength. I usually don't like to do that but with plywood bottoms it is ok. I would use only sapwood YP for the sides because that green heartwood looks cheap on a drawer. 1/2" sides on the bigger drawers would be stronger but not necessarily better. If you keep the 3/8" sides on all your drawers, your dovetailing will be easier. I just checked the drawer sides on a couple of our antiques and they were all 3/8" poplar or soft maple, hard to tell after a 100 years. Those drawers are all three times the size you want to build. I like to use soft maple on all my drawers but sapwood YP is OK.

   I think we get caught up in making thicker drawer boxes because all these high end kitchen cabinets use 5/8 or 3/4" hard maple boxes and we think that is what is necessary. Our Blumotion undermounts all call for 5/8" as well.

1. 
   oldusty | Jan 05, 2009 05:41pm | #10

      Terry ,

             The kitchen cabinets you speak of using 1/2" or more sides may have more to do with screwing on side mounted slides , they use a 7/16" screw typically, 3/8" sides  in that application is problematic .

      When using a plywood bottom I always glue the bottom in the groove .

                      dusty

1. 
   terrylee86 | Jan 06, 2009 12:21am | #11

   I used to make all my drawer bottoms out of glued up soft maple and used my raised panel cutter on my shaper to fit it to the dado.  Typically I would have 1/2" drawer bottoms of glued up stock, slid in through the back and pinned.  Now I am using 3/8" baltic birch for all my drawer bottoms and I glue them all in because you don't have to concern yourself about splitting.  I was into being authentic, now I am into being bulletproof.  Making a drawer bottom out of 3/8" balic birch is pretty bulletproof.  When I build pots and pan drawers I'll use 3/4" maple sides and 1/2" baltic birch bottoms.  Can't use the undermounts on those 30"x12" x15" monsters so I use the K-V 200# sidemounts.  My grandkids climb into them so they better be tough.

7. 
   dkellernc | Jan 06, 2009 06:10pm | #12

   Bob - 3/8" Poplar is more than adequate thickness for the drawer dimensions you cite.  If you can get it, use quarter-sawn stock.  Sometimes this is as easy as buying some wider poplar stock and sawing out the edges (which are quartersawn) and avoiding the center (which is face grain).

   In regards to the bottoms breaking, that depends greatly on deep the groove is for the drawer bottom.  In this case, 3/16" deep would be the absolute maximum I'd take it down to.

   One way to do this without the complications of running a groove for the bottom down the sides is to instead used a rabbet along the bottom of the sides, back, and front and simply glue the plywood bottom in.  You then either glue on thin strips to the bottom of the drawer for runners, or place them inside the case (it's usually easier to put the runners in the case if you're using a face frame).  You can't do this with solid wood drawer bottoms, obviously, but it's a lot easier than grooved construction if you're using plywood.

8. 
   roc | Jan 06, 2009 11:22pm | #13

   Well you pushed my button:

   http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2730

   And while you are at it this is a nice bit of work but is more about the cabinet than the drawers.

   http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2846

   LESS than 1/4 ply in bottom would be plenty strong for these small drawers unless you plan to store blacksmithing hardies in 'em.

   roc

   
   

   ---

   Edited 1/6/2009 3:32 pm by roc

1. 
   bob_barnett | Jan 06, 2009 11:31pm | #14

   You have easy buttons.  Thanks for the links.  I did a quick scan and it looks like very good information.  I am looking forward to reading them. 

   Thanks again

   Bob